“I reckon from my third-year to my sixth-year I’ve done the majority of the work, so the pre-season is sort of the same now, my body holds up pretty well.”

With St Kilda champions Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna calling time on their decorated careers, more is being asked of Ross from a leadership perspective.

Nearly 12 months into his time in the Saints’ leadership group, Ross hasn’t tried to change too much about the way he goes about it, focusing on preparing to the best of his ability and being a sounding board for others.

“I’ve enjoyed it. I haven’t really tried to change a whole lot, the only thing I’ve tried to do is look after my own backyard really," he said.

“I think the strongest way you can lead is through your on-field performance.

“There have been some areas that I’ve really tried to work on, like giving and receiving feedback with the younger guys.”

While many of his teammates jetted overseas at the end of Round 23, Ross transitioned into civilian life, spending six weeks working alongside former fan favourite Jason Blake in property development.

“I did a bit of work experience with ‘Neill’ [Jason Blake], which is what we used to call him when I was at the club,” he said.

“I started there one day a week during the season and then because our best and fairest was in October, I wasn’t going to be doing much between finishing up footy and then, so I worked with him nearly full time for six weeks, working in the retail department of property development.”

After backing up a breakout 2016 with a breathtaking 2017, can Ross rise to another level again in 2018?